Wrongful Termination in Minneapolis

Minnesota is an “at-will” employment state and Minneapolis is an “at will” employment city. That means that your employer can fire you for any reason or no reason at all – even a stupid, incorrect, unfair, or unethical reason – provided that it’s not an illegal reason.

Employers can – and often do – make mistakes or bad business decisions when they terminate employees. Even if a Minneapolis employer’s actions are unfair, unethical, or bad business, the employer hasn’t broken the law unless they make an employment decision such as termination for an illegal reason.

Sometimes, Minneapolis employment lawyers refer to these claims as “wrongful termination” claims. We mainly use “wrongful termination” as shorthand for clients – most of the illegal reasons for termination that form the basis for a lawsuit are discrimination, retaliation, or whistleblowing.

Illegal Reasons for Terminating a Minneapolis Employee

There are several illegal reasons for termination that could form the basis for a wrongful termination claim for a Minneapolis employee:

The second unlawful and wrongful reason for termination is retaliation or reprisalby an employer against an employee for making a complaint or report of discrimination. The Minnesota Human Rights Act, Title VII, and the Minneapolis City Ordinance (Title 7) all prevent employers from retaliating against employees for making a report of unlawful discrimination – either against themselves or other employees.

The third illegal reason for termination is retaliation for whistleblowing. Both federal law and state law protect whistleblower employees from suffering retaliation at their jobs for reporting conduct that they believe to be unlawful. Minneapolis employees of course are protected by these laws, even though Minneapolis doesn’t have a separate law of its own.

The federal government allows certain employees up to 90 days in a calendar year for medical leave for themselves or to care for family members through the Family and Medical Leave Act. An illegal reason for termination is if an employer retaliates against an employee for exercising his or her FMLA rights. Minneapolis employees are entitled to FMLA leave pursuant to federal law.

Minnesota protects its injured employees by preventing employers from retaliating against employees who get injured on the job and seek workers compensation benefits. Workers compensation retaliation is illegal. It is illegal for employers to terminate employees just because the employee was injured and sought workers compensation. Minneapolis employees are entitled to workers compensation benefits when injured on the job, and state law protects them from retaliation.

Both the Minnesota Fair Labor Standards Act and the federal Fair Labor Standards Act protect Minneapolis employees from termination or firing in retaliation for questioning, make a complaint regarding, or opposing unlawful pay practices, including an employer not paying proper overtime or requiring off-the-clock work. If you think you were terminated because you questioned your employer’s pay practices, you may have a wrongful termination claim.

The major exception to the at-will employment rule discussed above is if you have an employment contract with your Minneapolis employer. Most people don’t, so the at-will doctrine (and the illegal reasons for termination stated above) apply to most employees in Minneapolis.

But if you have an employment contract, the terms of your contract may provide additional protections to you in addition to those stated above. The specific protections vary from contract to contract, so we’d need to see it first, but generally speaking: many employment contracts set out specific reasons for which employment may be terminated “with cause” or “without cause.” If your employer did not terminate you for one of those reasons – following the procedures specified – you may have a wrongful termination claim based on your employment contract.

How Do I Prove a Wrongful Termination Claim in Minneapolis?

Your employer probably isn’t going to admit that it terminated you for an illegal, discriminatory reason. Usually, when employers discriminate on the basis of age, race, disability, gender, or sexual orientation, the employer will make up and offer a different, non-discriminatory reason for termination. For example, the employer might claim that it terminated you for poor performance. In order to win on a wrongful termination or discrimination claim, Minneapolis employment lawyers must prove that the reason offered by the employer is a pretextual reason that is just being said so that the employer can avoid having to say the actual, illegal reason for termination.

We’ve got a couple ways that to prove pretext on behalf of Minneapolis employees. First, you can demonstrate that the reason given by the employer is just factually wrong. So, for example, if your employer claims that it terminated you for poor performance, but actually gave you high performance reviews for a number of years and has no written records of ever giving you discipline or counseling, then we’ve created a fact question for a jury regarding whether the reason given by the employer is the real reason for termination, or just a pretextual reason designed to mask unlawful discrimination.

Second, employment attorneys in Minneapolis can prove that the reason given by the employer isn’t the real reason for termination because it wasn’t equally applied to similarly situated employees. So, if the employer claims that it terminated you for poor performance, but the your peers actually had equal or worse performance reviews than you – or documented performance problems that you didn’t have – than we’ve created a fact issue regarding whether the employer’s stated reason for termination is the actual reason, or just a pretextual reason designed to mask unlawful discrimination.

What Should I do if I’ve been Wrongfully Terminated in Minneapolis?

First of all, if you’re searching for answers right now after losing your job, we’re very sorry that you’re in this position. We know how tough it is to lose your job, especially when you’ve got family and other financial obligations. It’s especially frustrating when the termination is wrongful, illegal, and unfair.

Second, make sure that take advantage of state benefits designed to help people going through tough times. Apply for unemployment benefits – here’s a link. And, contact COBRA to make sure you and your family are covered for health insurance.

Third, write everything down that happened to you. Write down the date that you were terminated, who terminated you, what they precisely said was the reason for your termination, and who else was present. Write down whether you think the reason your employer gave you was accurate or not, and why. Write down the names of employees that you think may have useful information. Write down the types of documents or emails that you think may have good information about your case. Write down everything – the reason for this is that your memory will probably fade over time and you want to document things while they’re fresh in your mind. If you pursue a lawsuit, your trial likely won’t be for at least 12 to 18 months, so you want to have something that you can refer to – write everything down.

Fourth, immediately send a letter or email request to your employer requesting your personnel file and the reason for your termination. Under Minnesota law, your employer needs to provide it to you. If your employer hasn’t paid you all of your wages or given you your last paycheck, make sure to request those wages in writing also (by letter or email).

All consultations are free. During your consultation, we’ll discuss the strengths and weaknesses of your case, the potential value of your case (e.g. how much your case is worth), and the best way to proceed.

There’s some information that we’ll need when you call, so if possible, please have it handy, including: who did you work for what did you do how long did you work there how much did you earn when were you terminated what was the reason given by your employer for your termination and why do you think the termination was unlawful or wrongful. If you have this information handy, it will allow us to proceed to the heart of your case very quickly and give you good legal advice.

The process for a free consultation with our employment lawyers is pretty simple. First,call our firm. You’ll talk to a clerk for about 5-10 minutes. They’ll get some basic information about you and your case.

About 3 or 4 hours later, you’ll get a call from us. If you’ve got a case that’s a little outside our wheelhouse, then we’ll will call you and give you a referral for an attorney that we think is better suited to handle your case. Our number one goal is to make sure you get the best representation possible for your particular matter – if that’s not us, we’ll tell you immediately and get you to someone else that we trust.

If we think that we can help you, then someone will call you and set an appointment for you to talk to one of our employment lawyers. We’ll call you at time that works for you and discuss your case and give you our honest assessment of its strengths, weaknesses, and value. We’ll then set a time where you can come to our office and meet your employment lawyer personally – at that time, we’ll discuss your case in more detail, sign a contingency fee retainer agreement, and talk about the process of moving forward with your case.

When you come in to meet your employment lawyer, please bring all relevant documents that you want us to look at, including: pay-stubs personnel file (if you have it) employment handbook (if you have it) any letters from your employer, including your termination letter any text messages or emails that you think are important and any other documents that you think might be helpful.